Exam Flashcards
social Psychology branches into what 3 main areas of interest
- How others influence the individual
- How we think about others
- ->Person perception, stereotypes, prejudice discrimination - How we influence what others think.
- ->Persuasion, changing attitudes
in order to understand social reality what do we need to study
- ->we need to study the interaction between the person and the situation
- -> horrific acts may not be a product of the social situation, not the individuals personality
Mimicry
taking on for ourselves the behaviours, emotional displays the facial expressions of others
eg Chameleon effect
Chameleon Effect
non-conscious mimicry of others that involves automatically copying others’ behaviours without realizing it
–> Yawning, arm folding, leg tapping, face rubbing, hand wringing, accents, grammar, vocabulary, mood
Social Norms
the (usually unwritten) guidelines for how to behave in social contexts
Social Loafing
- the tendency to expand less individual effort when working in a group than when working alone
- ->Caused by the belief that:
- the task is extremely difficult or complex
- one’s contribution to the group is not important
- others in the group aren’t trying
- one doesn’t care about the group
Social Facilitation
the tendency to expand more individual effort when working in a group than when working in a group than when working alone
–>Can happen if effect group to fail and really care about group/task
Group Think
-when individuals in a group have to focus on social harmony (and avoidance of open disagreement), and thus the group makes decisions without an open exchange of ideas
Conformity
adjusting our behaviour or thinking to fit in with a group standard
–>Originally studied by Asch (1956)
What are the two types of social influence affect conformity
Normative influence
Informational Influence
Normative Influence
adopting a group perspective in order to be accepted and gain social approval by a group
Informational influence
adopting a group perspective because their ideas and behaviour make sense, and the evidence in our social environment has changed our minds
You are most likely to conform when (6 reasons)
- others conform first
- responses are made publicly
- the group is medium sized and unanimous
- you feel positive toward the group
- the task is unclear or ambiguous
- your culture encourages respect for norms
The Bystander Effect
- the finding the that people are less likely to provide needed help when they are in groups than when they are alone
- Diffusion of responsibility
- pluralistic ignorance
Diffusion of Responsibility
the decrease in responsibility felt by an individual as the number of bystanders increase
Pluralistic Ignorance
rationalization about the fact that no one is helping
Social Roles
specific sets of expectations for someone in a specific position should behave
- Can have powerful effects on behaviour
- Ex: STandford prision study
Obedience
adjustment of individual behaviours, attitudes and beliefs to the orders of an authority figure
- could be good or bad
- -“eg Milgram (1974)-participants believe they administrating potentially fatal levels of shock to another person
The results of Milgramès (1974) study
-65% obeyed to highest level of shock
What factors increase obedience (5 reasons)
- remoteness of the victim
- closeness and legitimacy of authority figure
- Some else doing dirty work
- When all others participant obey and no one disobeys
- personal characteristics not important
- -“Political orientation, occupation, religious beliefs, gender, education, SES, etc….
What is Abnormal
- a lot of grey area between what is normal and abnormal
- varies across individuals and cultures
- no single definition agreed upon by anyone
- most definitions refer to the three D’s.
what should you keep in mind when discussing psychological disorders (3 points)
- How do we decide when a set of symptoms crosses the line and becomes a disorder that needs treatment
- how can the label of psychological diagnosis affect people
- Can we define specific disorders clearly enough so that we can know that we’re all referring to the same set of symptoms
what are the three D’s
Danger
Distress
Dysfunction
Danger
-Behaviour increases risk of injury or harm to slef or others
Distress
-Intense negative emotional reaction that doesn’t match the situation
Dysfunction
-Behavior interferes with individual’s daily functioning
what is one reason to diagnose a disorder
in order to make decisions about the treatment
-in order to treat a disorder, it helps to understand the cause of the psychological symptoms
The medical model (3 points )
- psychological disorders can be seen as psychopathology, an illness of the mind
- Disorders can be diagnosed, labeled as a collection of symptoms that tend to go together
- people with disorders can be treated with a goal of restoring mental health
The biopsychosocial approach
Includes: Biological influences Psychological influences Social-cultural Influences mental disorders are thought to be caused by biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors
Biological Influences
- evolution
- individual genes
- brain structure and chemistry
Psychological Influences
- stress
- trauma
- learned helplessness
- mood-related perceptions and memories
Social-cultural Influences
- roles
- expectations
- definitions of normality and disorder
what is the textbook used to classify psychological disorder
the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual: DSM-V (may 2103)
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual: DSM-V (3 points)
- the most complete description of over 350 mental disorders and criteria for diagnosing each
- Assumes psychological disorders are no different from a physical illness
- ->symptoms, diagnosis, prognosis
- Diagnostic information is represented along 5 dimensions, or axes, that consider both the person and their life situation
What are the five ‘axes’ of the DSM-V
Axis I : Clinical symptoms
Axis II: Developmental and personality disorders
Axis III: Physical Conditions
Axis IV: Severity of psycho-social stressors
Axis V: Global assessment of functioning
Axis I
Clinical symptoms
-Eg: depression, schizophrenia, phobia
Axis II
Developmental and personality disorders
- ->Developmental disorder:
- Typically first evident in childhood
- Eg: autism, intellectual disability
- -> Personality disorder:
- Enduring and consistent ways of interacting with the world
- eg: paranoid, antisocial, borderline personality disorders
Axis III
Physical Conditions
-eg: brain injury or HIV/AIDS that can result in symptoms of mental illness
Axis IV
Severity of psycho-social stressors
-Eg: death of a loved one, starting a new job, college, unemployment, marriage
Axis V
Global assessment of functioning
-level of functioning both at present time and highest level within previous year
Critiques of diagnosing with the DSM (4 reasons)
-The DSM calls too many people ‘disordered’
The border between diagnoses, or between disorder and normal, seems arbitrary
-decisions about what is a disorder seem to include value judgments
->is depression necessarily deviant?
-Diagnostic labels direct how we view and interpret, the world, telling us which behaviour and mental states to see as disordered
Personality Disorders
-Stable, ingrained inflexible and maladaptive ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving
What are the three clusters of disorders
- Dramatic and impulsive behaviours (the main focus)
- Anxiety and fearfulness
- Odd and eccentric behaviours
Dramatic and impulsive behaviours (the main focus)
antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic personality disorders
Anxiety and fearfulness
-aviodant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders
-Odd and eccentric behaviours
-Paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders
Antisocial Personality Disorder
- 3:1 male-female ratio
- Lack a conscience and empathy
- Fail to respond to punishment
- Disregard for others’ rights to preferences
- may be charming and manipulative
- Diagnosis -At least 18 years of age with antisocial behaviour before 15
What are the biological risk factors for antisocial personality disorder (5 factors)
- genetic predisposition
- lower levels of stress hormones and lower physiological arousal in stressful situations
- MRI findings of subtle differences in prefrontal lobes
- Weaker limbic input to frontal cortex
- Impaired functioning of amygdala
what are the Psychological factors of kids at risk for developing lifelong antisocial personality disorder:
- in perschool, those who were impulsive, uninhibited, unconcerned with social rewards, and low in anxiety
- those who endured who endured child abuse and/or inconsistent, unavailable caretaking
Antisocial personality disorder does not automatically mean criminality explain.
- many career criminals show empathy and selflessness with family and friends
- many people with APD do not commit crimes
Borderline Personality Disorder
- Intense extremes between positive and negative emotions
- unstable sense of self
- impulsivity
- difficulty with social relationships
What are the causes of borderline personality
- Early traumatic Experience
- Impulsive and risky behaviour is a way to deal with negative emotions
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
- inflated sense of self-importance
- excessive need for attention and admiration
- intense self-doubt and fear of abandonment
Histrionic Personality Disorder
- excessive attention seeking and dramatic behaviour
- very flamboyant and exhibitionistic
Dissociation
refers to separation of conscious awareness from thoughts, memory, bodily sensation, feelings, or even from identity
-it can serve as a psychological escape from an overwhelming stressful situation
Dissociative Disorder
refers to dysfunction and distress caused by chronic and severe dissociation
Dissociative Amnesia
loss of memory with known physical cause; inability to recall selected memories or any memories
Dissociative Fugue
-“Running away” state; wandering away from one’s life memory, and identify, with no memory of these
Depersonalization Disorder
-A strong feeling of disconnection from one’s regular identity and awareness
Dissociative Identify Disorder (DID);
-development of separate personalities; formerly called ‘multiple personality disorder’
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
- Each identity is unique
- ->Not in consciousness at the same time
- -> May or may not know about each other
- ->one identity may be protector, another a child
The explanation for the different perspectives of DID (4 reasons)
- Psychoanalytic perspective: diverting id
- Cognitive perspective: coping with abuse
- Learning Perspective: dissociation pays
- Social Influence: therapists encourage
DID is it real Evidence for and against
-Evidence for: different menstrual cycles, different allergies, different eyeglass prescriptions, different brain waves, different handedness
Evidence Against:
-unknown in some cultures
-role playing?
Anxiety Disorders
a category of disorders involving fear or nervousness that is out of proportion to the situation and is maladaptive
what are the four types of anxiety Disorders
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- panic disorder
- phobias
- obsessive-compulsive disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder symptoms
Emotional-cognitive symptoms:
–>worrying, having anxious feeling and thoughts about many subjects, ad sometimes ‘free-floating’ anxiety with no attachment to any subject
–>Anxious anticipation interferes with concentration
Physical symptoms:
-Autonomic arousal, trembling, sweating, fidgeting, agitation, sleep disruption, eating problems
Panic Disorder
- ->Anxiety response occurs suddenly, unpredictable is very intense
- many minutes of intense dread or terror
- chest pains, choking, numbness
- A feeling of a need to escape
- ->as a result, the person lives in fear of the next attack and changes their behaviour to avoid panic attacks
- Agoraphobia
Phobic Disorder (3 points)
- Strong, irrational fears of objects or situations
- ->most develop during childhood, adolescence or young adulthood
- Uncontrollable, irrational, intense desire to avoid the object of the phobia
- seldom go away on their own
- ->can intensify over time
Specific Phobia
an intense fear of a specific object, activity, or organism -most common specific phobias:
- Animals, (snakes, spiders, eyc…)
- Natural environment (heights, storms, water , etc…)
- Situations (small spaces, crowds, the densist etc…)
- Blood or bodily injury
- other specific objects
Social Phobia
an intense fear of being judged by others or being embarrassed or humiliated in public
-can make it difficult to lead a normal life
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
an anxiety disorder in which individuals are plagued by unwanted repetitive thoughts and tend to engage in repetitive behaviours
Obessions
Compulsions
Obessions
- cognitive component
- ->repetitive and unwelcome thoughts
Compusions
behavioural component
repetitive behavioural response as an attempt to ease the anxiety from the bad thoughts
% of individual with OCD reporting obsessions and compulsions
Obsessions 58%-a fear of being contaminated 56%-persistent doubting 48%-need to arrange things in symmetrical pattern 45%-Aggressive thoughts Compulsion 69%-checking 60%-cleaning 56%-repeating actions
what is the common pattern of OCD
RECHECKING Although you know that you’ve already made sure the door is locked, you feel you must check again. And Again
What are the 6 explanations of anxiety disorders
biological operant conditioning classical conditioning observational learning cognitive appraisals Evolutionary
biological (explanations of anxiety disorders)
genetics
- people with anxiety are biologically predisposed to experience more fear than others
- -> they have problems with a gene associated with regulating levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in regulating sleep and mood
- ->also have a gene that triggers high levels of glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter involved in the brains alarm centers
- Selective breeding in mice showed than an increased fear response is in part genetically determined
operant conditioning (explanations of anxiety disorders)
rewarding avoidance
- when we encounter the source of anxiety, we feel very uncomfortable
- This makes us decide to leave or avoid the source of anxiety
- this makes us feel more comfortable
- Thus, avoiding the source of anxiety was reinforced, and it will increase in the future
- ->this is negative reinforcement!
classical conditioning (explanations of anxiety disorders)
overgeneralizing a conditioned response
- Watson and Rayner (1920): Little Albert learned to feel fear around a rabbit because he had been conditioned to associate the rabbit with a loud, scary noise
- Sometimes such a conditioned response becomes overgeneralized
- ->feel fear to stimuli that resemble a rabbit
- -> Results in a phobia or generalized anxiety
observational learning(explanations of anxiety disorders)
worrying like mom
- if you see someone else avoiding or fearing some object or creature, you might pick up that fear and adopt it, even after the original scared person is not around
- in this way, fears get passed down in families
cognitive appraisals (explanations of anxiety disorders)
uncertainty is danger
- includes worried thoughts, as well as interpretations, appraisals, beliefs, predictions, and ruminations
- Also includes mental habits such as hyper-vigilance (persistently watching out for danger)
- In anxiety disorders, such cognitions appear repeatedly and make anxiety worse
Evolutionary (explanations of anxiety disorders)
surviving by avoiding danger
-humans are more likely to develop phobias toward certain objects
list #1: snakes, heights, closed spaces, darkness
-we are likely to become cautious, but not phobic, about other dangerous objects
list #2: guns, electrical wiring, cars
-This is because ancestors that easily developed fears to list #1 were less likely to die before reproducing
-Items in List #2 are too recent to spread in the population
Anxiety and the brain
- Traumatic experiences can burn fear circuits into the amygdala; these circuits are later triggered and activated
- Anxiety disorders include over arousal of brain areas involved in impulse control and habitual behaviours
What part of the brain shows extra activity with patients with OCD
shows extra activity in the ACC, which monitors our actions and checks for errors
what are some examples of cognitions that can worsen anxiety
cognitive errors
irrational beliefs
mistaken appraisals
misinterpretations
cognitive errors
such as believing that we can predict that bad events will happen
Irrational Beliefs
such as “bad things don’t happen to good people, so if I was hurt, I must be bad”
Mistaken appraisals
such as seeing aches as diseases, noises as dangers, and strangers as threat
Misinterpretations
of facial expressions and actions of others, such as thinking “they’re talking about me”